Transcript

A new study from Canada finds people living in rural and northern areas are in worse health than
their urban counterparts. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

The study found rural Canadians have higher rates of obesity, depression, high blood pressure,
and even asthma.

Statistics Canada based its findings on interviews with 130,000 Canadians.

It blames lifestyle differences, such as the greater number of rural smokers.

But Jill Konkin, president of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, says a lack of health care
is also responsible.

“Rural areas tend to have people who are poor, they have less access to not just medical care, but
the prevention-promotion part of medicine. There’s less access to all sorts of just community
resources.”

Konkin’s group is one of many calling on the Canadian government to recruit more health care
workers into rural areas.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

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A sewer plant is now trying to stop condoms from making their way into Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports on the plans to capture the latex before it gets to the lake:

Transcript

A sewer plant is now trying to stop condoms from making their way into Lake Michigan. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports on the plans to capture the latex before it
gets to the lake:

After an angler found what he estimated to be hundreds of condoms floating on Lake Michigan,
the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District began investigating the source of the problem.

Michael Martin is Technical Services Director with the Sewerage District.

“Last spring we discovered that there were a number of condoms floating out in Lake Michigan.
We believe that some of these condoms could be or have been coming from our Jones Island
wastewater treatment plant.”

The Sewerage District plans to spent two million dollars for new filters to trap the condoms. In
the meantime, workers with nets are skimming the final tanks to get rid of the problem. Martin
says they still haven’t figured out why this problem has suddenly popped up and only at this one
wastewater treatment plant.

One of the nation’s largest environmental groups is suing the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to get the agency to ban a pesticide widely used by farmers. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

One of the nation’s largest environmental groups is suing the Environmental Protection Agency
in an attempt to get the agency to ban a pesticide widely used by farmers. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

The Natural Resources Defense Council is suing the EPA because it says the agency has not done
enough to determine whether the herbicide Atrazine is linked to some forms of cancer. The
environmental group has been on a campaign for some time now, trying to get the herbicide
banned in the U.S.

Atrazine is found in many water sources and has even been found in rain water at rates above the
EPA standards. But, Atrazine is a very popular herbicide, often used by corn farmers.

Erik Olson is an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He says farmers can use
something else.

“There are alternative practices, methods that you can use to grow corn where you don’t have to
use as many herbicides or in some cases, really, any herbicides simply by changing your
practices.”

But other herbicides are more expensive and other practices might mean not as much corn
harvested on each acre.

A report from an environmental group says peaches, strawberries, nectarines, and apples are more likely to be contaminated by pesticides than other produce. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Celeste Headlee reports, the non-profit group says washing produce doesn’t eliminate pesticide residues:

Transcript

A report from an environmental group says peaches, strawberries, nectarines, and apples are more
likely to be contaminated by pesticides than other produce. As the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Celeste Headlee reports, the non-profit group says washing produce doesn’ t
eliminate pesticide residues:

The Environmental Working Group tracked results from pesticide tests done by the U.S.
Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration between 1997 and 2001. Those
tests track almost 200 pesticides on fruits and vegetables.

The EWG has issued a shopping guide with a list of the twelve most contaminated foods,
including bell peppers, celery, and potatoes. Also listed are the twelve safest foods, including
asparagus, avocados, and mangoes.

EWG President Ken Cook says he doesn’t want to discourage people from eating fresh produce.

“There is a way to look at the pesticide residues on these crops and make a decision about how
often you eat them or, when you have a chance, whether you can shop instead for organic choices
or select fruits and vegetables that have lower residue levels.”

The FDA says the consumption of pesticide residues is not dangerous, but Cook points out that
the government is constantly updating food regulations.

November 4th is Election Day. Voters throughout the region will choose their mayors and city council members, maybe support a ballot measure or two. Basically, one vote can be the end result of a long argument about what matters most. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Julia King thinks the democratic process would be a whole lot easier if we were all a little less… human:

Transcript

Nov. 4th is Election Day. Voters throughout the region will choose their mayors and city council
members, maybe support a ballot measure or two. Basically, one vote can be the end result of a
long argument about what matters most. Great Lakes Radio Consortium Commentator, Julia
King, thinks the democratic process would be whole lot easier if we were all a little less human.

Things would be so much simpler if people were like – hamsters, or jackrabbits, or snails.

The point here being that if our species were a little more uniform – the way most other species
are – we’d have an easier time with politics.

Seriously, think about hamsters: they like exercise wheels, sleeping during the day, and sunflower
seeds. They don’t like cats. They don’t like pokey little kid fingers in their eyes and they don’t
like bright light. There’s not a lot of controversy in the hamster kingdom because they all pretty
much have the same likes and dislikes. It would be easy developing a policy that hamsters could
really rally around. Can’t you just see their little signs: “More Plastic Tubing!” and “We Heart
Sunflower Seeds!”

But people, oh my goodness, just look at us: some guy likes mountains and some woman wants
the ocean. One kid is quiet and shy and loves butterflies. Another is loud and fast and wants to
play hockey.

We have no set habitat, or diet, or demeanor. Some of us run from a fight and others of us go
looking everywhere for one. There are humans who want to talk everything through, who believe
it’s a civic duty to explore a public policy. And there are others who’d really rather focus on
something, more pleasant, less potentially explosive, like which European woman will fall for the
latest Joe Millionaire .

There are certain needs we do all share – water, food, shelter, love. But even those things we
can’t quite agree upon. Is water for thirsty people, or for swimming pools? Is the food
vegetarian or barbeque beef? Is your shelter threatening a wetland eco system or is the darn
wetland robbing you of your dream home? Does love mean engaging in dialogue or leaving
people the heck alone?

It’s a cruel trick nature plays on our species. We’re tangled up together on this planet, some six
billion of us, with an infinite array of dreams and visions and yet there is just this one great big
ball on which we all live.

Politics brings out the best and worst in humans. We organize into factions that can build or
destroy, that can nurture the spirit or evoke the meanness that resides in all of us.

Unlike much of the animal world, we achieve our goals not through sheer instinct, but through
intellect and focused determination. We have to outthink and outwork our foes to prevail. Yet
win or lose, we’re still tethered to one another, forever sentenced to the toil of negotiation in the
face of endless human want.

All a birdwatcher needs, really, is a patch of the outdoors – or a window – and something to sit on. Patience and binoculars help. But there are certain skills that earn serious birders treasured sightings of rare or shy species, and a deeper understanding of bird behavior. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Martha Foley got an early morning lesson in the best practices from ornithologist and artist David Allen Sibley, author of the new series of Sibley bird books from the Audubon Society:

Transcript

All a birdwatcher needs, really, is a patch of the outdoors – or a window —
and something to sit on. Patience and binoculars help. But there ARE certain
skills that earn SERIOUS birders treasured sitings of rare or shy species, and
a deeper understanding of bird behavior. The Great lakes Radio
Consortium’s Martha Foley got an early morning lesson in the best practices
from ornithologist and artist David Allen Sibley, author of the new series of
Sibley bird books from the Audubon Society.

It’s a warm, sunny fall morning – fragrant and dewy. Cicadas tick and trill.
We’re walking along a nature trail in northern New York State – destination,
a new wildlife viewing platform on the verge between some woods and a
marsh. On our way, of course, David Sibley is looking up:

“Let’s take another look at those chickadees; they’re sounding more interesting.”

It’s a good time of year for birding, fall migrants are passing through. And
we’ve come to a good place – the trail takes us from deep woods to a bright,
sandy area that’s growing up to berries and birches. It looks like heavy
equipment was through here not long ago. Not pretty, but good for birders.

“It’s kind of ironic that birdwatchers end up going to all the disturbed habitats and
open fields and even garbage dumps, and then avoid the thousands of acres of
unbroken forest which is so important to the birds, but not much visited by
birdwatchers.”

Sibley’s Audubon bird books – five so far – exemplify a new generation of
field guides. They push past identification towards art. The illustrations are
highly skilled, detailed and lush, fitting inheritors of the Audubon name.
Sibley works from sketches made in the field, checking details against
photographs, specimens, and a lifetime of mental images. Now in his forties,
Sibley started drawing birds when he was five, says drawing and looking
gone together ever since:

“I don’t do art so much for art’s sake but for information. I do the sketches and
illustrations of birds to record details, to record information about them so that I can
remember it and pass it along to other people. So I’m able to draw other things but
unless I have some sort of information I want to record about it, it doesn’t hold the
same appeal.”

We’re in the woods again. Sunlight filters through a high canopy of maple,
cherry and hemlock. The group is strung out as we pick our way through the
underbrush. Walking is a little hairy, with uneven ground underfoot, and
our eyes on the treetops. But before long, we’re at the marsh, climbing the
viewing platform. Sibley sets up his scope, but most of the time, we’re just
looking around.

“There’s a blue jay in that half dead treetop in the distance.”

Sibley quotes Yogi Berra in his “Birding Basics” book – “you can observe a
lot just by watching” – but this is a practiced way of watching.

“Well things like that blue jay, I heard it before I saw it, but I think that one of the big
things, one of the big skills in birdwatching is watching for movement and seeing the
difference between a bird moving and a leaf falling. And also you get a sense of
where to look. Not necessarily where the birds are mostly likely to be, but where
you’re likely to see one. There’s not much point of looking through the deep shady
woods, because even if a bird is moving in there, you’re not likely to see it. But if you
scan the treetops and the edges and the open sky you have a good chance of seeing a
bird in one of these treetops.”

A sharp chip means a swamp sparrow somewhere. Sibley tries the universal
call, but it won’t show itself.

“You never know, it might have climbed up onto t twig somewhere and just be sitting
there in the sun looking at us right now.” (laughs)

“Bird watching takes a lot of time.”

“Yeah it’s a big commitment.” (laughs)

“Are we being too noisy?”

“No. Birds don’t mind noise that much. They’re much more sensitive to movement.
One of the worst things you can do is point at a bird. If you see a bird and say, ‘Oh,
look at that!’ and point, it will almost invariably take off and fly away or duck down
under cover. But if you don’t move you can shout, and say, ‘Look over here!'”

Most of the group getting this impromptu lesson have put in some serious
time with their own binoculars and field guides. There’s a friendly, but
ongoing competition of sitings and stories, and a sense that we should be
able to show Sibley something unusual – but we don’t. Neither do we cover
a lot of ground. From the marsh it’s a quick walk back to the parking lot. It
is, how it is – a simple success.

In the sense that we got outdoors early in the morning and we saw a bunch of birds
that was a very successful birdwalk. A birdwalk is really a birdwatch more than a
walk. And I tend to go very slowly when I’m birdwatching.

Many large and midsize cities in the Great Lakes region are fighting an uphill battle when it comes to revitalizing the city center and preventing unfettered development in the surrounding suburbs. There is one place, however, where a progressive mayor has turned a once deserted downtown into a lively place, full of urban amenities and street life. At the same time, he’s teamed up with nearby villages and townships to slow down the widening circle of unplanned development around the city. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gretchen Millich reports:
http://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/10/millich_102703.mp3

Transcript

Many large and midsize cities in the Great Lakes region
are fighting an uphill battle when to comes to revitalizing the city
center and preventing unfettered development in the surrounding
suburbs. There is one place, however, where a progressive
mayor has turned a once deserted downtown into a lively place, full of urban amenities and street
life. At the same time, he’s teamed up with nearby villages and townships to slow down the
widening circle of unplanned development around the city. Gretchen Millich of the Great Lakes
Radio Consortium reports:

On the list of the most sprawling cities in the United
States, Grand Rapids, Michigan is right in the middle. Over the
last 10 years, the metropolitan area has seen a huge increase in
roads, subdivisions, shopping malls and industrial parks.

But Grand Rapids and neighboring villages and townships
started planning years ago to rescue the city from the problems
that accompany sprawl. And that planning is starting to pay off.

A key factor in Grand Rapids’ success has been the
mayor, John Logie. He’s retiring this year after 12 years in
office. Logie has lived in Grand Rapids for most of his life. He
recalls how the city looked when he returned after serving in the
Navy.

“When I came back to Grand Rapids in the late 60’s, I could have taken my bowling ball in any
downtown street at 5:18 PM and hurled it down the sidewalk as hard as I could, secure in the
knowledge I’d never break an ankle, because nobody was there.”

Logie realized then that his beloved city would not survive unless something was done to revitalize
the downtown and encourage people to live there. In the 1970’s, he helped
write a state law that allowed local governments to set up historic districts. Grand Rapids now has
five historic neighborhoods, including Heritage Hill, where Logie lives in a
Queen Anne style home.

“And also I had read Jane Jacobs book years ago, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”
and she talks in there about the need to preserve what you’ve got. And
the need to find adaptive re-use when a buggy whip manufacturing company goes out of business
because the automobile has replaced the horse-drawn carriage. There’s a building there that needs
new life.”

To that end, Logie helped write another state law setting up Renaissance zones in inner cities where
businesses and residents could get substantial tax breaks for re-using old
buildings. Grand Rapids now has seven Renaissance districts. The city also changed the zoning on
several old warehouses and industrial buildings to encourage what Logie
calls “layer cakes” – retails stores, restaurants, offices and apartments – all in the same building.
Some of the old furniture factories have been renovated, including the Burkey and Gay building –
built in the late 1800’s. Burkey and Gay went out of business in the 1950’s.

“It had been sitting cold iron for 50 years. And now it’s all back to life. Two-hundred sixty middle
of the road apartments, and some offices.

“We got tired of the quiet life and wanted a little diversity.”

Connie Thompson and her husband Jim used to live in a
new suburb north of Grand Rapids. About a year and a half
ago, they moved into an apartment in the Burkey Gay building.

“We like the downtown city feel, which is really fun. We can walk to a bakery, we can walk to
shopping.”

“Grand Rapids has almost got kind of a European feel to it. There’s a couple of little side walk
cafes – during the summer – it doesn’t work too well in the winter. But, yeah, we
like it. I think we’re more city people than the country people we tried to be for a while there.”

But it wasn’t enough just to work within the city limits. Grand Rapids Mayor John Logie knew he
had to work with planners in the surrounding suburbs to promote better land-use
policies. He convinced local officials in 47 different jurisdictions to set limits on how far their
communities would grow around Grand Rapids.

“We invited each of them to draw a line somewhere in the middle of their real estate. And you
decide where that line should go. And then we’ll create a formula together that you’re going to
encourage future growth inside that line and discourage it out until you get to a certain level of
density – at which point you can move the line.”

Logie says the growth boundaries have kept the population closer to the inner city, cutting down on
long commutes, pollution and preserving at least some of the farmland
around the metropolitan area.

As he prepares to step down as mayor at the end of the year, Logie says he’s proud of what he’s
accomplished. He says it’s not rocket science – just common sense about what
makes a city a good place to live.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Gretchen Millich.

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There’s growing evidence that having pets is good for the well-being of their humans. A new study looks at the effect of pets on the lives of chronically ill children. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

There’s growing evidence that having pets is good for the
well-being of their humans. A new study looks at the effect of pets on
the lives of chronically ill children. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Tracy Samilton reports:

This study of children living with diabetes was performed by researchers
at the Human-Animal Bond Initiative at Michigan State University. It
found that the children who had close, loving relationships with their
pets had better coping skills and were better at actively managing their
disease than other children.

Researcher Linda Spence says that may be because pets can improve children’s self-esteem and
reduce stress.

“They are consistently there, no matter how awful a day you have. When you come home, they’re
as happy to see you as if you were some sort of celebrity.”

Spence says the next step is to find out what these families are doing
that encourages their chronically ill children to develop close
relationships with pets. She suspects such families treat their pets as
members of the family rather than just animals.

Transcript

More farms are trying to turn cow manure into electricity. But some people say the
government should not be paying for the process. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck
Quirmbach reports:

The federal government recently gave 14 million dollars to six Great Lakes states for renewable
energy and energy efficiency projects. Some of the projects are manure digesters, which capture
the methane from large amounts of animal waste and turn the gas into
electricity.

But Bill Weida of the New York-based Grace Factory Farm Project says the digesters do little to
reduce odor and nutrient problems at large farms. He also says the amount of electricity produced
is relatively small for the expense.

“We are subsidizing a program, which is going to produce energy at a higher cost than other
alternatives would, for example wind.”

Weida says the manure digester technology should be forced to stand on its own economically. But
the U.S. Agriculture Department says it’ll continue to consider digester proposals.

The U.S. EPA is launching studies to look at a new class of chemicals that is being found in water and fish. So far, very little is known about these so-called emerging contaminants – including whether they’re dangerous to human health. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

The U.S. EPA is launching studies to look at a new class of chemicals that is being found in water
and fish. So far, very little is known about these so-called emerging contaminants – including
whether they’re dangerous to human health. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Tracy Samilton reports:

The new chemicals include PBDE’s, used as flame retardants, and PFOS,
which are used in Teflon and other products. One study will look
at the levels of the chemicals in Great Lakes fish. Another will test
water in Lake Michigan for their presence. Canada is doing tests in the
other Great Lakes.

Melissa Hulting is an environmental scientist with the U.S. EPA. She says it’s a mystery how
PFOS in particular have spread so fast.

“People thought they were fairly inert and they would
stay put and what we’ve found is, they haven’t. They’re being found in
the Arctic and in remote areas.”

While the EPA studies the levels of the chemicals in fish and water,
Hulting says other researchers are trying to figure out if the chemicals
are harmful to human health – and if so, at what level they are dangerous.